golden bird knits: April 2011

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Dapples and shadows

I forgot to tell you an important detail about my trip to Napa last weekend. Coincidentally, across the street from the hotel was a yarn shop-- a really nice yarn shop. (Also across the street was a candy store, and that's where most of my vacation pocket money went ... yarn and chocolate.)

When I walked in the store, I was immediately drawn to this Katia yarn called Temis and ended up buying two balls. It wasn't until I started knitting with it later that afternoon that I realized I had worked with it a couple years ago. I guess my tastes haven't changed. I love the variations in weight and texture.

When my mom saw me knitting with it she expressed how much she liked it, so I decided to knit her a scarf for Mother's Day. I just started it today, but wanted to show you how interesting it looks when knit. I'm using size US 13 needles on a 2x2 rib.

Please forgive the shadowy and dappled photos. I took them out on the patio because I don't want to miss a minute of this nice spring weather we are finally having.

This is the mystery project I've been working on. It's a baby blanket that I have been trying to finish before my sister's shower in a couple weeks, but I realized today that I just can't get it done. (I was also trying to keep it a secret, but I gave up on that, too.) That's okay, I'll give her the yellow blanket and save this one for the holidays. It's a feather and fan pattern on worsted weight.

I want to give a special shout out to Stephanie of Tiny Owl Knits for donating two patterns to give away to my Ravelry group. If you haven't seen her designs, you are in for a real treat.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Scenes from Napa

When I mentioned in my last post that I wasn't going to be around much, what I really meant was that I was heading to Napa Valley with my family for a long weekend to celebrate my folk's 50th wedding anniversary. (I thought it best not to advertise that I was going out of town just to be on the safe side.)

The trip was very important to my mother, who fought hard for it to happen in spite of health problems she is experiencing and the challenge of my sister traveling while seven months pregnant.

The hotel featured these soaking tubs in each room, which is where I spent a good portion of time every evening. I absolutely love baths and brought a supply of my favorite scrubs, soaps, and bath bombs, as well as a good book to read.

Don't tell my cats, but it was really nice having a big bed all to myself for a few nights.

(Don't tell the spiders that lurk in the corners of my apartment, but it was really nice to get away from them, too.)

Someone taped this sign to a random wall outside on the street.

My sister Hil, showing us the size of her belly. We talked alotta lotta lot about the new addition to the family over the weekend. It's hard to express the extent of our joy and excitement.

I'm not a big fan of expensive jewelry or George Clooney, but I love a good sense of humor. This jewelry store had many funny window displays. In case you can't read the sign, it says, "Every woman deserves studs" and above it is a pair of diamond stud earrings.

Our last night we ate at Brix, which is surrounded by hills and vineyards and a vegetable garden. We arrived at sunset, the perfect time to take photos.

The countryside was so gorgeous and serene. With all of the recent rain everything was incredibly green and vibrant.

It was the most time I've spent with my parents in many years and wonderful for the whole family to be together for an entire weekend. We ate good food, shopped, talked, and laughed so much. I really didn't want to leave.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Spring is in the air

I think spring is finally here. Real spring, not a tease of warm weather that lulls you in to thinking winter is over before it rains for two weeks straight. We have had SO much rain here--it was unbelievable. I'm a huge fan of wet weather, but even for me it was a bit much. The sunshine and warm temps feel soooooo good.

Cory and I had lunch on Saturday and I gave her the neck cozy I knit in February. It looked so pretty on her that I couldn't stop looking at it. I rarely wear any of the items I knit, so it was a nice to see it in use rather than folded in a drawer.

We went to see the new Jane Eyre movie after lunch. Oh.my.gosh. It was so good! I highly recommend it-- the acting was superb and the cinematography was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Today is Charlie's fifth birthday! He got his favorite salmon-flavored Fancy Feast for breakfast and a container of fresh kitty grass, which he loves. I adore my kitty.

I'm still having problems with Blogger. All of the sentences run together unless I add line breaks using HTML code. Does anyone else have this problem? I can't figure out how to fix it.

I'm going to be spending a lot of time with family this week and might not be around much. Hope it is spring in your neck of the woods and you are enjoying lots of sunshine and blossoms.